Leading By Example
by AquaTurquoise
Summary: Sofia is going to teach Cedric how to operate a flying coach if it's the last thing she does.


Leading By Example

Summary: Sofia is going to teach Cedric how to operate a flying coach if it's the last thing she does.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sofia the First.

A/N: Well, here we are! Lol. I think agentgiggles27 and I have talked about this enough to finally bring it into reality. Cedric, you're a grownup and had a 9-year-old fly you and Amber into uncertainty. That's just in need of rectification. Here we go!

"Why must I do this again?" Cedric asked with a slight whine to his voice as he followed Sofia outside to one of the empty flying coaches.

"Because, Mr. Cedric," she began with a serious tone, "what if I can't fly one for some reason later on? What if I'm sick? Or lost? What if I get kidnapped by evil little minions made out of spikes and sugarcane and you have to save me?"

He raised an eyebrow at her last example. "Seriously, Sofia?"

She grinned and shrugged. "Enchanted land, right? It could happen!" She climbed into the driver's seat and offered her hand to him, helping him up to the seat with her.

"I have one gripe," Cedric began with his arms folded. "At least my flying devices all have safety belts. I can't help but notice this one does _not_."

She laughed. "It's okay, Mr. Cedric. We'll install one later if we need to. But first let's practice the basics." She reached forward and unlatched the glove box in front of her, extracting the same schematics she'd found a few months ago. She handed them to Cedric before looking around in the coach.

"Did you lose something?" he enquired.

"I thought there was a map in here last time…" She leaned forward and checked under the seat. "Hmm." She sat up again and shrugged. "Oh, well. I guess we'll just be winging it."

"W-Winging it?" Cedric asked, nervous all of a sudden. "Sofia, we can't just _wing_ it when we're flying in the air! What if we get lost?"

"Mr. Cedric," she said simply and happily, playfully putting her hands on either side of his face to calm his hysterics. "The castle is pretty big… I highly doubt we can get lost if we just keep it in our line of sights. Okay?" She smiled as he nodded, and she lowered her hands. "Now, take the reins."

The sorcerer did as he was told, vaguely aware that he was taking directions from a nine-year-old girl. "What now?"

"Snap the reins and the horses will do the rest." She smiled. "And I'll tell you what…if you can manage that much, I'll take care of the rear wings manual shift, okay?"

"The who's-it-what-what?" he questioned, absolute confusion etched all over his face.

Sofia shook her head as she took hold of the lever in the middle of the coach. "Just trust me. Now let's go, Mr. Cedric!"

Uncertain but wanting to get it over with, Cedric snapped the reins, shrieking in slight fear and apprehension as the horses took off running toward the end of the grounds. "Oh, here we go again!" he whimpered as they neared the ledge. He shielded his eyes in dread.

The princess rolled her eyes at his panicked state and giggled, pulling the lever back and releasing the rear wings, lifting them into the air. She took hold of the reins quickly. "You can open your eyes now, Mr. Cedric," Sofia said with a playful laugh, smiling as he lowered his hands and quickly grabbed the reins from her.

"Very well done, my dear," he complimented, attempting to calm his heart rate and recapture his pride at the same time. "So, um…what do I do now?"

"That's all there is to it, really. You just steer them and indicate where you need to go. They can do the rest. Taking off is the hard part." She leaned back and rested her head against the seat as she folded her hands into her lap.

"Well, this isn't so bad," Cedric admitted with a sheepish smile. "I can't believe I was so worried about this…"

"Mm, maybe _next_ time, _you_ can operate the shift and _I'll_ scream in terror." She grinned when he gasped.

"I wasn't _screaming_..."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She snickered. "You were actually _shrieking_ in terror. My mistake."

"Sofia," he grumbled, snapping the reins and lowering the horses. "Forgive me if I'm a little terrified of falling to the earth in one dramatic splat, all right?"

Sofia giggled and took one side of the reins as she moved closer to him to steer better. "I wouldn't let you fall, Mr. Cedric. I promise."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Princess," he returned with a small smile toward her.

Sofia smiled back before gasping and pointing ahead. "Look out for those birds!"

Cedric's eyes widened before he snapped the reins again, lowering them considerably as they doubled back toward the castle. "Let's get our heads out of the clouds now, shall we?"

She nodded in agreement and grinned. "That was a very smooth transition, Mr. Cedric. I'm proud of you!"

He chuckled lightly as they returned to their original location, the horses seeming to sigh in relief as much as they did once they were finally back on the ground. "Thanks, Sofia…" He released the reins and opened the door, stepping onto the pavement. He turned back to her. "Do you need any help getting out?"

Sofia just shrugged and grinned mischievously, jumping toward him and laughing as he caught her in surprise.

"Sofia!" Cedric reprimanded as he looked toward the girl. "Don't do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

She grinned and hugged him. "Call it a trust exercise. I hear Princess Anna does it sometimes too." She giggled. "You can let me down now."

He shook his head and sighed, lowering her to the ground. "Don't tell your father about this. The last thing I need is a lecture, or worse…getting fired because of his daring daughter."

Sofia smiled and shrugged. "I prefer the term 'adventurous.' But I promise." She looked toward the castle and back at her mentor. "I'll race you to the gate."

"Do you really think after all that heart-pounding excitement that I would actually—last one to the tower has to tell Wormy what _really_ happened to his favorite book!" He grinned and took off, surprising the younger girl.

"Mr. Cedric! That's not fair!" She grinned as she ran after him. "And I think we _both_ know what really happened to it anyway!"

The end!

A/N: Let's be honest… I have _no_ idea what really happened to Wormy's book. :P I'll let y'all decide that one. Anyway, hope you all had a good weekend. I still have one more day of my three-day weekend, and I intend to have at least one more story out tomorrow (and work on new grad school work, but that's another story, haha…). And I'm pretty sure tomorrow's story is going to be one entitled "Catching Dreams," and I finally get to encompass a little bit of my _own_ background into it… You'll see what I mean. ;) Have a good night! ~AquaTurquoise


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